Zachery Knowles - True Ghost Stories: Real Police Ghost Stories: True Tales of the Paranormal as Told by Cops and Other Law Enforcement Officials

This first story comes from a callout in rural Illinois. A police officer and his partner were working the nightshift, usually a quiet affair only dealing with the occasional loud drunk and speeding car. The call came in saying there was a suspected break-in at the local morgue. A bit of an odd place to break into admittedly, but there are a good number of chemicals inside, which may be of interest to drug addicts.

The officers took the call and headed to the morgue to investigate. Upon arrival, they found the custodian waiting outside for them, looking a little shaken. He told the officers he was mopping the floors when he saw something move in his peripheral vision. When he looked up, he saw someone run across the hallway from one side to the other and disappear into a room.

Unfortunately, he could not give a good description of the person due to the fact he had turned the lights off as he cleaned. Still, he was sure he saw someone and, being alone and unarmed, hed decided discretion was the better part of valor and called the police.

The two officers figured it might have been some kids breaking in for fun or the custodian had been seeing things, but the man was certain enough about what he saw to convince the officers to check it out.

They started by verbally warning anyone inside the building to show themselves, but they did not receive an answer other than their voices echoing back at them. The officers, along with the custodian, did a sweep of the building by walking the central corridor, hands on guns, and checking each of the side rooms as they came across them. Most were labs for analysis; some were storage for tools or administrative files. As they moved about, they turned on the lights to ensure they did not forgo anyone hiding.

One officer opened a door to a blackened room and fumbled to find the light switch; what he found was an empty waiting room for relatives of the deceased. He swept the room quickly, checking every place a person could hide. As he was doing so, his partner suddenly started shouting, Hey, stop! Turn around!

The other officer turned to see his partner with his gun raised towards the end of the corridor. She went around the corner, he said, indicating the left hand route at the end of the corridor.

That ways a dead end; no escape from there, the custodian explained.

Knowing they had the intruder cornered, the officers advanced down the corridor calling out to the woman to reassure her she would be safe if she came out and surrendered. The first officer went to the end of the corridor and peered around the corner to see the woman standing at the end. The lights were still off in that part of the building allowing him to have a rough image of her and her long, fair hair.

Wanting to see if he could talk to her to convince her to leave with them quietly, he stepped out from behind the corner. As soon as she saw him, however, she hauled open a big grey door behind her and ran through it, slamming the door behind her.

The officer ran up to the door, but found it was locked. Banging on it for a little while, he called out to the woman to show herself, but there was no response. His partner came up with the custodian and he explained the situation, which seemed to concern the custodian. Apparently, the door couldnt be locked from the inside. The custodian unlocked it and the two officers headed inside, guns raised.

Shining their flashlights around the room, they revealed everything except the woman they were trying to find. The place was eerie in their light and one officer felt it was strangely cold, even for a morgue.

The custodian came in behind them and flicked the lights on, filling the room with light. It was largely emptysome workspaces along the sides, equipment against one wall, and two gurneys for bodies in the middle of the room. One gurney was covered with a sheet, a body shape underneath it. It wouldve been a clever hiding place if the room had been more regularly used, but as it was, the officers knew they had their suspect.

As they approached the gurney, they realized something was wrong. There was an unearthly stench emanating from the shape; it wasnt from someone alive or even someone unwashed and sweaty, but rather smelled of rot and death. When the officers pulled the sheet off the body, there lay the woman they had been chasing through the building, a toe tag hanging off her foot stating she died four days earlier.